System and method for distributed voice models across cloud and device for embedded text-to-speech
Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for intelligent caching of concatenative speech units for use in speech synthesis. A system configured to practice the method can identify, in a local cache of text-to-speech units for a text-to-speech voice an absent text-to-speech unit which is not in the local cache. The system can request from a server the absent text-to-speech unit. The system can then synthesize speech using the text-to-speech units and a received text-to-speech unit from the server.
1. A method comprising:
identifying in a local cache, via a processor, a first portion of text-to-speech units required for a text-to-speech voice to convert a specific text into speech;
identifying an absent text-to-speech unit required for the text-to-speech voice, wherein the absent text-to-speech unit is not in the local cache;
requesting from a server the absent text-to-speech unit;
receiving the absent text-to-speech unit from the server, to yield a received text-to-speech unit; and
synthesizing the speech from the specific text using the first portion of text-to-speech units and the received text-to-speech unit.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing the received text-to-speech unit in the local cache; and
pruning the local cache after synthesizing the speech.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the local cache stores a core set of text-to-speech units associated with the text-to-speech voice that cannot be pruned from the local cache.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a request to synthesize the speech.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining parameters relating to speech synthesis; and
determining, based on the parameters, how many additional text-to-speech units to request.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local cache comprises speech snippets for use in concatenative synthesis.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
beginning to synthesize the speech using only the first portion of the text-to-speech units before receiving the received text-to-speech unit; and
continuing to synthesize the speech using the first portion of the text-to-speech units and the received text-to-speech unit as is stored in the local cache.
8. A system comprising:
a processor; and
a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
identifying in a local cache, via a processor, a first portion of text-to-speech units required for a text-to-speech voice to convert a specific text into speech;
identifying an absent text-to-speech unit required for the text-to-speech voice, wherein the absent text-to-speech unit is not in the local cache;
requesting from a server the absent text-to-speech unit;
receiving the absent text-to-speech unit from the server, to yield a received text-to-speech unit; and
synthesizing the speech from the specific text using the first portion of text-to-speech units and the received text-to-speech unit.
9. The system of claim 8 , the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
storing the received text-to-speech unit in the local cache; and
pruning the local cache after synthesizing the speech.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the local cache stores a core set of text-to-speech units associated with the text-to-speech voice that cannot be pruned from the local cache.
11. The system of claim 8 , the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising receiving a request to synthesize the speech.
12. The system of claim 8 , the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
determining parameters relating to speech synthesis; and
determining, based on the parameters, how many additional text-to-speech units to request.
13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the local cache comprises speech snippets for use in concatenative synthesis.
14. The system of claim 8 , the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
beginning to synthesize the speech using only the first portion of the text-to-speech units before receiving the received text-to-speech unit; and
continuing to synthesize the speech using the first portion of the text-to-speech units and the received text-to-speech unit as is stored in the local cache.
15. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
identifying in a local cache, via a processor, a first portion of text-to-speech units required for a text-to-speech voice to convert a specific text into speech;
identifying an absent text-to-speech unit required for the text-to-speech voice, wherein the absent text-to-speech unit is not in the local cache;
requesting from a server the absent text-to-speech unit;
receiving the absent text-to-speech unit from the server, to yield a received text-to-speech unit; and
synthesizing the speech from the specific text using the first portion of text-to-speech units and the received text-to-speech unit.
16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
storing the received text-to-speech unit in the local cache; and
pruning the local cache after synthesizing the speech.
17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16 , wherein the local cache stores a core set of text-to-speech units associated with the text-to-speech voice that cannot be pruned from the local cache.
18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising receiving a request to synthesize the speech.
19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
determining parameters relating to speech synthesis; and
determining, based on the parameters, how many additional text-to-speech units to request.
20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the local cache comprises speech snippets for use in concatenative synthesis.